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The Concerts: 1999/2000

Looking back, I'm amazed that I went through a two-year period of such relative inactivity on the concert scene, given my history before 1999 and after 2000. I suppose my energies were taken up with my first two years of work at NCMC, still finding my way through the peripheral bullshit that goes with a job like mine, along with the considerable distance to get to shows in the first place. (The Petoskey-to-Detroit corridor is a long lonely road.) But here they are, such as they are, for the years 1999 and 2000.

Mercury Rev [Mill St. Entry, Pontiac 4.16.1999]
Rammstein [State Theatre, Detroit 6.8.1999]
R.E.M. [Pine Knob 8.23.1999]
U-Ziq [Shelter 2.4.2000]
Peter Murphy [Clutch Cargo’s 3.16.2000]
The Tragically Hip [The Orbit Room 7.13.2000]
St. Etienne [Mill St. Entry, Pontiac 9.30.2000]
The Dandy Warhols [St. Andrew’s Hall 10.12.2000]

Random memories:

*Listening to "Deserter's Songs" from Mercury Rev on the way down to see the band, convinced that it was one of the best rock albums of that time (and I'm sure the Flaming Lips took notice of it, too, stealing their producer and their cinematic evocative sound for their subsequent releases)

*Feeling the heat of the pyro all the way up in the balcony of the Rammstein show, which may have been from the last tour they did in America

*Realizing how fragile a band's sound is when it loses an essential piece of the musical puzzle, as Bill Berry's departure from R.E.M. left a gaping hole in their tuneful soul

*Wondering why I was watching Peter Murphy go through the motions in an uninspired glower

*Wishing I was in some parallel universe where bands like The Tragically Hip (a Canadian R.E.M.) and Saint Etienne (a postmodern pop confection) were selling millions of albums, their songs blanketing the radio

*Seeing the shambolic greatness of the Dandies, thinking that they just might be able to break into the mainstream (which, of course, they most certainly did not)

I can't shake the feeling that I've missed some shows during those two years, but it may well be that it was simply a fallow period. (As a comparison, I've almost seen more shows in the past two months than I saw in those two years.) Either way, when the music industry reentered my life in the years to follow (via my side employment at the late and lamented Record World) the concert attendance shot back up considerably. And my hearing has never been the same.

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